1. Filed of the Invention
The invention relates to spools, cones and like devices for holding windings of thread. It is particularly applicable to packages, upon which is wound sewing thread for industrial applications.
2. Description of the Prior Art
In the clothing manufacture industry, for example, there is an increasing demand for garments to be made in small numbers at a time. Sewing thread for the making up of garments has traditionally been supplied in a number of different formats, principal among which is a cone carrying 5000 to 10000 m of thread. Where smaller quantities of thread are needed, a cop spool may be preferred, which carries typically 1000 m. The terms "thread" and "yarn" are used more or less interchangeably herein, or as idiom demands.
The large capacity of the cone can be a disadvantage as production runs become smaller and large amounts of thread are often wasted. The cop spool is a small diameter tube so that the innermost turns of yarn may be undesirably tightly coiled. Because of the small capacity of cop spools, they may need to be replaced frequently, which is time consuming because the thread from the two spools needs to be joined.
Of course, an intermediate size of spool would be possible but it is inconvenient for all concerned to deal with too many different standard sizes and, besides, it will not always be clear in advance how much thread will be required in which formats.
The term "cone" as used in this specification is not intended to limit the shape of the spool on which the thread is wound and includes, inter alia, spools of generally frustoconical and cylindrical shape.